460 History of Luminescence 



and bacteria are the only known members of the plant kingdom 

 which emit a light that can be classed as a bioluminescence. There- 

 fore, the history of light emission in the plant kingdom, the dis- 

 covery of luminous bacteria and fungi, will be described in Chapter 

 XIV under the heading, " Shining Fish, Flesh, and Wood." 



The history of animal luminescence is taken up under two cate- 

 gories— (1) Phosphorescence or "Burning" of the Sea, the spark- 

 ling luminescence due to microscopic protozoa and other small 

 organisms (Chapter XV) , and (2) " Animal Luminescence " or 

 " Animal Luminousness," dealing with the various groups of larger 

 forms (Chapter XVI) . The last title, " Animal Luminousness," is 

 now somewhat archaic but was a popular expression in the nine- 

 teenth century. At the present time over forty different groups in 

 the animal kingdom are known to be luminous. Chapter XVI con- 

 tains not only the earliest observation of the luminous animals of 

 each group, but also an account of the first studies designed to 

 describe the characteristics and explain the mechanism of light pro- 

 duction.- The various groups will be discussed under two main 

 categories, (I) Luminous terrestrial and fresh-water forms, and (II) 

 Luminous marine animals. 



(essential oil?) , which can be ignited with a match, but again luminescence cannot 

 be claimed. 



Another famous instance of false luminescence in plants has to do with the moss, 

 Schistostega osmundacea, which lives in dimly illuminated places. Its cells are almost 

 spherical, constructed like a lens, and some of the light condensed on the chloroplasts 

 is reflected from the cells, again giving the appearance of self-luminosity, as in one 

 of the modern road-marking signs. 



The flagellate, Chromophyton rosanoffi, is a similar case, described by Molisch 

 (Sitzb. d.k. Akad. der Wiss. Wien, 110, abt. 1, 1901), as well as a number of marine 

 algae, which have an irridescent appearance similar to that of the copepod, Sapphirina, 

 or insects such as Entimus imperialis; see A. Gorbasso {Mem. delta real, accad. d. Sc. 

 di Torino, ser. 2, 46: 180-186, 1896). Most of the above cases of false luminescence 

 have been fully discussed in Leuchtenden Pflanzen (1904) by Hans Molisch. A good 

 anonymous review will be found in Science Gossip for 1871: 121-125. 



- More detailed information will be found in the book, Bioluminescence (New York, 

 1952) , by E. N. Harvey. 



